Now that Ja Morant's been traded to the Portland Trail Blazers, we can officially mark the end of an era for the Memphis Grizzlies. While the Morant-era Grizz felt like the future of the Western Conference at one point, all of their cornerstones from that period are now gone. Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr., Desmond Bane, and Dillon Brooks -- the original core -- are all playing for different teams.
Looking back, we can actually pinpoint Memphis' 2023 first-round loss to the Los Angeles Lakers as the beginning of the end of this Grizzlies era. Despite some outstanding performances from Morant in that series -- including a 45-point Game 3 -- the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Lake Show took care of Memphis in 6 games.
The Lakers' playoff series victory over the Grizzlies in 2023 meant more than we realized at the time
Little did we know at the time that the Grizzlies wouldn't win another playoff game in the next three seasons. Things began unraveling for Morant the next season (2023-24), which is when he served multiple suspensions and also ran into injury trouble, limiting him to just nine games in the regular season. The Grizzlies failed to make the playoffs.
In 2024-25, further injuries limited Ja to 50 games, and the Grizzlies got swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the playoffs. And it was more of the same for Morant this past season, in which he appeared in just 20 games and the Grizzlies didn't make the postseason.
Brooks and Bane were moved on from in earlier seasons, but Memphis ultimately parting ways with Jackson and finally Morant this year has signaled the closing of a window. Given how long it took the Grizzlies to give up on Ja, it's wild to look back and realize that the 2023 playoffs were really the last time that Memphis was a viable "contender".
The Ja Morant era was a lot more bark than bite, in hindsight
All in all, the Morant-era Grizzlies only advanced past the first round of the playoffs one time, in 2022, when they lost to the eventual champion Golden State Warriors in six games in the second round.
Morant's story is a reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in the NBA. There was a time not long ago that Morant was considered easily a top-10 player in the league. Zoom ahead a few years, and at 26 years old (still young!), Morant's value has plummeted.
Portland will offer Morant the opportunity to rehabilitate his career and reputation, but he definitely wasted a great thing in Memphis. That entire situation became a mess, and a very good NBA head coach, Taylor Jenkins, was also fired during the ordeal. The next couple of years will tell us if Morant is going to end up a huge "what if?" in NBA history.
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